Jessica Share and Aaron Long are preparing to marry, with their daughter Alice set to officiate the ceremony, according to People. The two are said to have found each other in a way most people would never expect, and Share describes their relationship as a real, decade-long partnership that began in an unusual way.
As Long shared, the story started in 1994, when Long, then a 28-year-old creative writing graduate, decided to become a sperm donor in State College, Pennsylvania. His work as a taxi driver and a desire to help others motivated him to donate. He reportedly visited a local sperm bank twice a week for a year and was paid $40 per visit.
A decade later, Share was living in Eugene, Oregon, and looking for a donor. She and her then-wife reportedly chose Donor No. 2008 because of his profile, which listed his occupations as musician and taxi driver along with his creative writing degree. According to People, they purchased the vials, and Share gave birth to their daughter Alice in 2005.
A holiday DNA test connected the donor and the family
In 2016, Alice, then a teenager, received a 23andMe DNA test as a holiday gift from her grandmother. The results reportedly showed a 50 percent match with a man named Aaron Long, who was living in Seattle at the time. Share told People she tracked him down and traveled to meet him with Alice in July 2017. Share has said she found herself falling in love with the man who had been an anonymous donor for so many years.
Long, who is now 60, shared with People that most people do not think of a DNA database as a dating site. Despite the unusual circumstances of how they met, the pair has been together for about a decade. According to People, they now live on Vashon Island near Washington state, where they are empty-nesters with eight roosters they say they rescued during the pandemic. Share has joked that they are terrible neighbors because of the noise.
Their story gained wide attention in 2018 after Long wrote an essay on NY Times about his experiences as a donor and the process of connecting with the children he helped bring into the world. According to People, Long has said that at last count, his donations resulted in 23 children. He has said he connected with four of them and has kept some contact with the others and their mothers. Share has said she keeps a spreadsheet to track the growing family, though she admits they are not obsessive about keeping it updated.
The couple reportedly once considered a reality television show, but the project never moved forward. According to Share, the project stalled because their life lacked the conflict and drama producers were looking for. The couple describes themselves as a normal family. Their story is currently featured in a documentary titled Dad Genes, which is appearing at various film festivals, shared Long.
Share has acknowledged that it is a weird situation to be in, and she has said she has not found anyone else who has walked a similar path. She has also spoken about why the relationship has lasted, saying they met because of the genetics, but that she is still with him ten years later because he is, in her words, a cool individual and the two work really well together. It is heartwarming to see Share and Long’s lasting bond, especially in an era where relationships and dating are becoming heartbreaking tales, like the Washington woman was abandoned after a date.
Published: Jun 7, 2026 02:14 am